Acquity Group Data Study

Acquity Group, a global Brand eCommerce® and digital marketing agency now part of Accenture Interactive, works with organizations on large-scale eCommerce technology, implementation and management projects and wanted to expand the business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce portion of its business.

Walker Sands supported Acquity Group by developing a strategy to demonstrate the vast revenue benefits eCommerce offers large B2B organizations. Through a three-phase PR campaign executed from April through June 2013, Walker Sands sought to reveal current pain points for the B2B industry and demonstrate Acquity Group's ability to bridge the gap in missing revenue opportunities.

The Problem

A gap in B2B eCommerce expectations suggested a data-driven PR campaign would earn widespread media coverage, drive traffic to Acquity Group's website and position Acquity Group as the go-to source of information on B2B eCommerce. Objectives included at least 60 placements, including 10 top-tier placements in major marketing and business publications, and an increase in referral traffic to the Acquity Group website. One of the project's key requirements was that the topic and takeaways be impactful to Acquity Group’s target audiences - CMOs and IT executives in B2B companies.

The Solution

Walker Sands developed a survey of B2B procurement officers to establish the current state of online strategies in the B2B industry. Before writing the survey questions, Walker Sands conducted research on timely trends in B2B eCommerce to determine which information would be most valuable to B2B companies and ensure the topic would generate headlines.

Walker Sands conducted interviews with Acquity Group executives to gain a better understanding of emerging strategies, current pain points and roadblocks for eCommerce adoption. Walker Sands recommended Acquity Group conduct a comprehensive report to be packaged as the 2013 State of B2B Procurement Study–a survey on the purchasing habits and preferences of corporate buyers with annual budgets exceeding $100,000.

New findings in B2B buyers’ research habits, loyalty trends, purchasing frequency, and customer service needs were packaged in a content marketing campaign that included blog posts, infographics and a full 13-page report.

Walker Sands followed a clear, efficient process to execute the study, package the results and share them with the media. The team developed a series of three media pushes with corresponding press releases, timely news angles, multimedia charts, graphics and infographics that were distributed to a targeted list of reporters in top-tier business, marketing and technology publications, as well as niche B2B manufacturing and supplier trades.

Extensive media outreach was conducted over a one-month period. The findings were also compiled into a 13-page whitepaper offering actionable advice for B2B sellers on how to drive more traffic online, increase efficiency, and grow revenue by appealing to web-savvy
customers.

The Results

The study generated more than 100 placements, with a combined readership of more than 10 million unique views in just the first three months, including an Inc.com placement that drove nearly 1,000 social shares and was one of the highest drivers of traffic to the Acquity Group website for the entire year.

More importantly, there were nearly 7,000 visits to the Acquity Group website as a direct result of the study. More than 400 people downloaded the report, including many large B2B enterprise prospects.

The report continues to be cited in industry articles – and has reached upwards of 200 placements – as a key study for B2B companies.